Travel The Home Exchange Way: More Vacation With Less Money

An obvious benefit to travel is to “see the world,” broaden your horizons, and create space away from your everyday life-perspective.

Vacations are good for relationships. You have time to enjoy your family or spouse: time to talk, plus you get to share new experiences together. You are creating stronger relationships and special memories.

There is often a flip-side to a great experience or opportunity. The downside of the family vacation is the cost–the financial factor–that stands in the way of actually taking the vacation.

A home swap can reduce two major expenses for the family vacation. The home swap helps you eliminate the cost of a hotel and at the same time give your family more comfortable accommodations. The home swap also reduces a second major line item from the family vacation budget: the cost of meals at restaurants. By doing a home exchange, you can eat many of your meals at home–plus you can still dine out “occasionally.”

Here are a couple of tips to help the budget-conscious family to control travel costs for your next family vacation:

If you are flying, the least expensive flights usually are scheduled on Tuesday and Wednesday.

If you are not crossing the ocean, compare the cost of airline tickets with the cost of traveling by train, bus, or car.

The home exchange often provides unique opportunities for entertainment for the family on its holiday. Living as a local, you are likely to pick up recommendations to see sites overlooked by the travel books.

It is a good idea to be flexible when searching for your home exchange partners. As you search for a home swap candidate, you might come across a possible home exchange at a location you might never have thought of as a destination. You may end up living in a small town that is commuting distance to New York City or a village on the outskirts of Rome–places you’d never heard of and therefore would never have otherwise visited.

Family vacations are wonderful and the only thing that can improve them is doing a home swap.